Peugeot makes offer to keep factories in France until 2016

PARIS-the Peugeot offered 7.5% increase in the production of cars in France, to 1 million automobiles, and postpone any factory closures until at least 2016, amid labor negotiations to cut costs in its domestic market.
Peugeot's negotiations with the Labor Union are part of a larger plan to deal with the new reality of Western Europe, where new car registrations declined by 12.8% in the first eight months of this year, far above the General market, in which the fall was of 5.3%. Most French factories operating well below capacity, causing losses to the company.
Peugeot said pressing workers to accept a slowdown in the pace of increase in salaries. The company also wants an agreement on other measures to cut costs, as part-time work schemes, in order to balance the books of French plants over the next three years.
In Exchange, the company has pledged to launch a new model in each of the French factories and proposed to invest 1.5 billion euros between 2014 and 2016. According to the company's human resources Director, Philippe Dorge, the volume of resources for investments is greater than the last three-year period.
However, the promises are dependent on an improvement in the industry's numbers. Peugeot said the promises were based on a projection that the European automotive market will resume sales of about 15 million cars in 2016. Last year, the new car plates issued in the European Union fell to 12 million. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.